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Discussion

Frustuated with lab values

Alright im starting to have a HUGE problem with this

I memorize a lab value, and then talk to someone who says its different. Look it up online, and the values listed online are WAY different than in the text books.

Example

In the Saunders book it says ALT is 4-6 international units/L

Online it says like 10-40 for males and 7-35 for females

The numbers aren't even close

I'm just worried about memorizing values (which I have NO problem doing) and them being completely different elsewhere

I also noticed that the nursing books use completely different units than websites too (ie Saunders says tropiniin I should be greater than 1.5 ng per ml or something to indicate an MI and online it will say > 10ug/L indicates an MI

Are they going to TRY to trick you on the NCLEX completely screwing around with units to make lab values appear completely different ?

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    This is science. There are "generalizations" for lab values but each lab has its own parameters and values can be off. The important thing is to have a strong reference point and realize what is really out of range. As always, one must look at the normal values when looking at results. In our office we get four different lab results: Quest, LabCorp, and each of the two hospitals. Every one has their own normal ranges. Makes it tough when trying to compare previous values.

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    I don't mind values being slightly off (ie one saying its 1-10 and another saying like 4-12)

    But when one website says 4-6 and another 10-40 that's a huge difference

    I mean if I get a test question where it says the value is 20. Well according to one website that's INCREDIBLY high, and according to another its normal

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    Just remember the range they are not going to ask you the exact values just that what is normal and what is abnormal range

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    I used the lab values from examcram a pearson book.

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    They will give u obviously high or low values so u would easily figure out what value is abnormal.

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    Here is a good tip, NCLEX is written by Pearson Vue so I would memorize the lab vales Pearson Vue has listed in their books. I bought the Exam Cram-PN book written by Pearson Vue and they have all their lab values listed within it. I studied the Exam Cram book 2 weeks before my NCLEX and I passed. Good luck on your NCLEX ?

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